UK minister Rishi Sunak calls for review of his finance declarations amid row over his wife’s taxes

The United Kingdom’s Finance Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson to order a review on whether he adhered to laws on financial declarations by ministers. Sunak is facing criticism from the Opposition Labour Party in connection with his wife Akshata Murthy’s tax exemption status in the country.

The minister has written to Johnson asking him to refer his declarations to the Christopher Geidt, United Kingdom’s independent advisor on ministers’ interests.

“My overriding concern is that the public retain confidence in the answers they are given and I believe the best way of achieving this is to ensure those answers are entirely independent, without bias or favour,” Sunak wrote in his letter to Johnson.

On April 6, Sunak had said that Akshata Murthy was as a non-domiciled citizen for tax purposes in the United Kingdom. This means that she is treated as a citizen with a home outside the country and is not required to pay taxes on income from overseas rents, bank interest or foreign dividends.

Murthy holds a 0.93% stakes in information technology company Infosys, which was founded by her father NR Narayana Murthy. She receives about 11.5 million pounds (Rs 11.56 crore) in annual dividends from her stake in the company.

She is also the director of venture capital firm Catamaran Ventures, that was founded in 2013.

Murthy is currently richer than the British Queen Elizabeth II, according to a report in AFP.

The Labour Party has accused Sunak of hypocrisy, pointing out that his family may have been benefiting from tax reduction schemes, even as he announced record tax hikes for citizens.

On April 8, Murthy had said that she would stop avoiding British tax on her foreign income, Reuters reported.

“I understand and appreciate the British sense of fairness and I do not wish my tax status to be a distraction for my husband or to affect my family,” she had said.